The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has received a market access request from Indonesia for the importation of pineapples for consumption.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of USDA has prepared a draft risk assessment of the plant pest risks associated with importing pineapple from Indonesia as one on the first steps in the process.

The risk assessment considered the shipment of whole pineapple fruit with or without the crown that has been washed, wax-coated, and manually dried. Pineapples would be shipped year-round in pre-cooled containers at 7°C-9°C

The assessment found nine organisms with a reasonable likelihood of being associated with the commodity.

Seven of these were considered candidates for risk management because they met the threshold for unacceptable consequences of introduction and had a non-negligible likelihood of introduction.

APHIS has shared the draft risk assessment with the public to allow stakeholders to review and provide comments, comments are due by 6 August.

Following the feedback period, a final risk assessment will be submitted which determines whether to grant access and identifies pest mitigation measures. APHIS then initiates a regulatory administrative process which finishes with approval of import subject to any requirements.

Brand-building via e-commerce, reaching out to new consumers in tier-two and -three cities, and managing future market growth projections in China were some of the hot topics discussed at Asiafruit Market Insight